No relief on penalty rates despite review
The Gillard government won’t budge on penalty rate relief for industries, like hospitality, disadvantaged by the awards.
Fair Work Australia is reviewing penalty rates for weekends and public holidays but the federal government will continue to support penalty rates for weekend and public holiday work. Assistant treasurer David Bradbury said employees who worked on weekends should be properly compensated for missing out on time with their families.
“It is not unreasonable to think that there should be some compensation paid to employees for giving up time on weekends and hours outside the normal working day.”
Australia’s accommodation industry says there needs to be a broader understanding of the constant operating environment for businesses in the sector.
It’s for this reason that the Accommodation Association of Australia is seeking change as part of the Modern Award Review.
“Our industry operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, meaning businesses cannot choose to simply close for a day,” said the association’s chief executive officer, Richard Munro. “Overseas tourists in particular come to expect high levels of service when they visit Australia, but the current award is placing this expectation at risk.”
Mr Munro said the risk is that some accommodation businesses are making the difficult decision to limit guest services because the cost of wages alone will exceed any revenue generated by providing the service, let alone contribute in a meaningful way to the fixed overhead costs for businesses.
“There are increasing incidences in our industry of accommodation operators either restricting the opening hours of restaurants or closing them altogether because they cannot afford the cost of wages,” Mr Munro said.
Mr Bradbury said there was little evidence of this.
Mr Munro said, “The problem is more prevalent in regional and country areas where they do not have the necessary number of customers to make it viable for businesses to serve restaurant meals, particularly on weekends and public holidays.
“The AAA does not support abolishing penalty rates and public holidays – we are seeking relief given the current situation is unsustainable for small businesses. The Association’s position is that employers should not have to pay for more than one public holiday in any pay period (fortnight) and not more than two in any month.
“We have also recommended – through our submissions to Fair Work Australia in the Modern Award Review and Fair Work Act Review– that an employee’s hours be averaged over 52 weeks, rather than 26 weeks, to take into account the seasonal nature of our industry.
“If introduced, these measures would mean that operators would be more likely to remain open and continue to offer employment where costs can be smoothed over a much longer period.”
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